GM announces more recalls on top of record numbers

In a year of record recalls for General Motors, GM announced millions of additional recalls this week, which led to a temporary halt in trading of the company’s stock.

On June 30, GM recalled some 7.6 million vehicles in the United States made between 1997 and 2014. GM said the recalled models were involved in seven crashes, eight injuries and three fatalities. Many of the recalled cars may have defective ignition switches.

“The fatal crashes occurred in older model full-size sedans being recalled for inadvertent ignition key rotation,” according to a company statement. “There is no conclusive evidence that the defect condition caused those crashes.”

In total, some 25.68 million GM vehicles were recalled in the United States so far this year. Worldwide, the number of recalled vehicles by GM so far this year is 29 million.

The recalls will lead GM to take a charge of up $1.2 billion in Q2 for the cost of recall-related repairs. In Q1, GM spent $1.3 billion for recall-related costs.

The company defends its actions.

“We undertook what I believe is the most comprehensive safety review in the history of our company because nothing is more important than the safety of our customers,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a company statement. “Our customers deserve more than we delivered in these vehicles. That has hardened my resolve to set a new industry standard for vehicle safety, quality and excellence.”

“We have worked aggressively to identify and address the major outstanding issues that could impact the safety of our customers,” Barra added. “If any other issues come to our attention, we will act appropriately and without hesitation.”

Trading of GM stock was temporarily suspended at about 2:30 p.m. on June 30. It was resumed later that same afternoon.

In addition, on June 27 GM announced four recalls involving 428,211 vehicles.

The news of the latest recalls came on the same day that details were released on a compensation fund by Kenneth Feinberg, who has been retained by GM, regarding 2.6 million cars, recalled in February, that have a defective ignition system.

InsideCounselhas reported that the brand could suffer as a result of all of these recalls and defects. Since the recalls started, the company has hired some additional safety specialists and some employees have left. Three senior lawyers were among the 15 GM employees who lost jobs following the internal investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Anton R. Valukas.

Contributing Author

Ed Silverstein

Ed Silverstein is a veteran writer and editor for magazines, websites and newspapers. A graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, he has won several...